Disintegrating and stabilizing apparatus



Jan. 13, 1942. L. M. M BRIDE DISINTEGRATING AND STABILIZING APPARATUS s Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 6, 1959 WeaM/m? (Bld A TTORNEV Jan. 13, 1942. M. MCBRIDE DISINTEGRATING AND STABILIZING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 6', 1939 INVENTOR. Lew/s M. McBRIDE ATTORNEY L. M. MCBRIDE DISINTEGRATING AND STABILIZING- APPARATUS Jan. 13, 1942.

Filed July 6, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .5 mm H 6 N m .M N N IM. A, 3

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Patented Jan. E3, 1942 DISINTEGRATING ANn STABIIJZING APPARATUS Lewis M. McBride, Edgewood Arsenal, Md. Application July 6, 1939, Serial No. 283,031

v (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April so, 1928; 370 o. G. 757) 8 Claims.

are ground to an impalpable powder which is continuously removed from the impact zone to prevent cushioning of the impact elements.

Another object is to provide an impact mill of the above type in combination with means whereby-the finely ground p rticles are dispersed and stabilized such that the material will remain indefinitely as a fine dust.

Another object is to provide an impact mill and associated mechanism which is. relatively economical to construct and simple to operate and which may be continuously used to produce stabilized fine particles of substances which have a tendency to cohere' and coalesce.

Another object is to provide a means of pro: ducing a finely divided solid material consisting of two or more components of active material in a stabilized condition, such that the individual particles of one component will not recombine 30 or cohere with other particles of the same component and, also such that the particles of different components will not combine with or adhere to each other.

rigidity of the mass is then too low for further crushing stresses to produce any eflect.

To disintegrate the material further, it is evident that the finest particles of the debris which are cushioning the larger remaining particles against the crushing effect of the process must be removed in order to allow the disintegration action to continue. To separate these finest particles from the coarse and remove them from the crushing process and continue the disintegration of the remainder is one of the principal features of this invention.

The manner in which this is done contributes directly to another principal feature of the in vention by disassociating any aggregates and dispersing the fine particles and isolating them in air or other gas whereby they'are permitted and caused to adsorb upon their surfaces molecules or films of air or gas; also, by virtue of the process, fine particles of a particular type of material, according to its chemical nature, acquire an electrical charge of a definite sign, the adsorbed air or gas and/or the effect of the electrical charges produce a stabilized particle preventing recombining or the formation of aggregates of the individual particles. Further, the method used to accomplish these results is also used to provide a convenient means of re-,

taining and collecting-the processed material for use. a

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application now Patent No. 2,165,287 granted July 11, 1939, filed April 12, 1935, for Method and apparatus for disintegration, dis- In all processes of mechanical disintegration, 3g persion, stabilization and collection of solid the difierent particles into which the substance is divided have to be torn apart against the force of cohesion. Disintegration may be accomplished by shearing and tensile stresses graduall 6 applied, as in attrition mills, or by a crushing A pressure applied gradually by means of rolls, or

by sudden blows, as in impact machines of the disintegrator type.

The efficiency with which the applied stress can act will depend upon the rigidity with which it is received by the pieces of substance that are to be broken. As the particles gradually become smaller, theyiorm a loose dust that yields more and more to-the applied stress, so that the crushmaterials.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a plan of the mill and stabilization and collection mechanism.

Fig. 2 is an elevation. miFllig. 3 is a broken section .of the interior of the Fig. 4 is-a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a central section of the complete mill.

Fig.6 is a broken section 'of the mill showing the feed mechanism and hopper.

Fig. 7 is an end view of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings, .and more especially to Figs. 1 and 2, the system comprises a primary ing efiect is increasingly diminished. There disintegrator or mill lmore p'articularlyasshown comes a point, therefore, in all crushing operations at which the accumulated debris is fine enough to accommodate itself to the applied stress without the individual particles actually in Figs. 3, 4 and 5; The finely pulverized material passes from mill 1 through pipe 2 to secondary disintegrator 3 which comprises an exhauster and blower driven by motor-5; The pulbeing stressed beyond their elastic limit. The veriacd material is blown by blower 3 through will be low.

a stabilization and dispersion tube 5 enclosed within an outer tube 8. Cooling liquid such as water is circulated between tubes 5 and 6, .the water entering by pipe 1 and leaving at pipe 8.

Tube 5 discharges the dust particles into a centrifugal separator 9, to the top of which is connected tube H to carry the fine particles to a dust settler and collector l2. The walls of the dust chamber permit the escape of discharged and spent air but will retain the fine dust par-'- ticles, the area of the walls being proportioned to the volume of air delivered by blower 3, so that the velocity of the air through the fllter -The spent air passes through flue l3 dust arreste'r l4 and thence to exhaust pipe l5.

tarsal Arrester l4 also includes a fine fabric filter to extract the finest particles which may have passed collector I2. It will be understood that separator 9, collector l2 and arrester l4-include means to remove the collected dust therefrom.

Referring now to Figs. 3, 4 and 5. the mill I comprises a rotary drum l6 mounted for rotation on a stationary hollow shaft I1. Within the drum are a plurality of rollers l8 which fall upon the material being ground as illustrated in Fig. 4 to crush and disintegrate the material. Hollow shaft I1 has a plurality of upright hollow tubes l9 'connected to the shaft adjacent the end opposite the material feed end of the mill. 4

Central shaft H has arplug 2| about midway thereof and another upright hollow shaft 22 hollow plunger 21 is telescoped into shaft I1 and is closed at its inner end by a plug 28 and has a handle 29 on its outer end. Tube 21 is provided with a slot. 3| into which a stop pin 32 on tube 11 projects. Slot 3| has a short section, at right angles; which extends about 90 around'tube21.

Material is fed into the mill by rotating inner tube 21 stop Pi 32 aligns with longitudinal slot 31.; then pulling tube 21 outwardly until pin 32 is at the end of -;the slot. Valve handle 26 is then turned to allow. a. charge of material to fall into hollow shaft l1, after which valve handle 26 is turned to close the feed valve. Then inner tube 21 is telescoped back into shaft I1 and the charge of material isforced into themill by plug 28 and falls through slot fl-in shaft l1.

One principal feature of. this inventionisthe meanswhereby air. or other gaseous medium enters the mill to continuolsly remove only the finest dust particles as they are ground. This air enters the mill partly through hollow shaft l1 and partly through theperiphery of the drum.

The tube 21 has an opening 33 (Fig. 6) which is Fig. 3.

As seen in '3, 4 and 5, the drum 16 has three openings 34 which are spaced 120 apart around thedrum and are, equally spaced lonsitudinally thereof as shown. Air is drawn into these openings as seen in Figs. 3 and 4. It will be noted that some of the air drawn into the drum passes through the material being disintegrated, whereby the finest ground particles are carried upwardly and out of the mass of material, thus avoiding cushioning of the rollers. The uniform angular spacing of openings 34 and the manner in which they lead one another successively from rear to front tends to agitate the material under and between the entire surface of the rollers and to carry the fines from the rear to the front and out of the mill.

The incoming air prevents the material from falling. out of the mill through openings 34. Removable plugs 35 as shown in Fig. 4 are provided for openings 34, and these plugs are used when the mill is started up before there has been any grindingi i The operation of the apparatus is as follows. A charge of material is fed into the mill by withdrawing feed tube v21; operating feed handle 26 to allow a charge to enter tube l1, then returning tube 21. Plugs 35 are placed in openings 34 and the primary disintegrator or mill I is started. The drum l1 rotates relatively slowly, in one practical installation at '78 R. P. M. Rollers l8 arecarried upthe side of drum l1 and fall as shown in Fig. 4, whereby the material is crushed by impact and sliding and rolling move- .ments of the rollers.

.. then started, tube 21 being rotated to align opening 33 with stationary tube 22. The mill is started and air is drawn into the same through telescoping tube 21, opening 33 and tube 22, and also through openings 34 in the mill wall. This air passes upwardly and is drawn out of the disintegrator through stationary tubes l9 and central shaft I 1. It will be seen from Figs, 3 and 4 that the air is withdrawn from an area spaced sub- 'stantially above the disintegrating area, whereby only the finest floating particles are withdrawn.

The quantity of air withdrawn is quite large, so that each dust particle may be and is quickly surrounded with an attached film of air. These suspended. particles pass through secondary dis- 6. This cooling of the particles while passing through the stabilization and dispersion tubes in a blast of air at high velocity tends to increase their ability to adsorb films of air or gas and stabilize them and assists in preventing any agglomeration thereof.

The stabilized fines then pass into separator 9 whereinany larger particles settle out, thence to collector l2 and arrester H, the air being exhausted at l5. Additional charges of material may be readily added, as previously described.

Although not limited thereto, this invention has been successfully used to disintegrate and stabilize chloracetophenone, commonly called tear gas, and diphenylaminechlorarsine, commonly known as sickening gas. The compounds arenormally solid and cannot therefore be readily dispersed into the air to form incapaeitating clouds. Such dispersion has heretofore been accomplished either by dimolving the compounds in a volatile solvent and spraying the solvent hollow shaft.

into the atmosphere, or by mixing with gun powder and causing burning thereof. ,Both these inethods are relatively ineflicient. However, when these compounds are disintegrated and stabilized in accordance with this invention, the very finest dust particles are obtained and such particles are so stabilized that they will not subsequently cohere or coagulate in storage. Therefore, these compounds may be dispersed directly as floating dusts, such as by means of a simple dusting apparatus, or by simple grenade described and claimed in my patent application for Grenade filed Dec. 2, 1938, Serial Number 243,526.

It will be understood that this invention is not limited to the specific details of construction shown herein by way of illustration, since various changes may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention nor exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. An impact mill for disintegrating normally solid material comprising a hollow shaft, a rotatable drum mounted on said shaft, a plurality of impact rollers within said drum, means for continually drawing air at high velocity into one end of said hollow shaft and across the upper portion of said drum and out the other end of said shaft, and means for selectively admitting air'through the material and around said rollers and out of said hollow shaft.

2. Apparatus for disintegrating and stabilizing normally solid chemical warfare agents comprising animpact roller mill, a'hollow shaft upon which said mill rotates, means for admitting air to one end of said hollow shaft and means for withdrawing air from the other end of said shaft,

a plurality of upright pipes connected to said shaft and terminating adjacent the upper portion of said mill, whereby air is drawn into said shaft and across the upper portion of said mill to withdraw only the fine dust particles, a .cooling chamber connected to the discharge end of said shaft through which the particles pass while suspended in air, the particles being stabilized by an adhering film of air, and means to collect the stabilized particles.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2 wherein the cooling chamber comprises a relatively long conduit through which the particles pass, said conduit being surrounded by a jacket through which a cooling medium is circulated.

4. An apparatus for disintegrating normally solid material comprising 'a hollow shaft, a rotatable drum with grinding elements therein mounted on said shaft, means for'continuouslyv mitting air through the material and around the grinding elements and out said other end of the 5. "An apparatus fondisintegrating and stabilizing normally solid material. comprising 'a hollow shaft, a rotatable drum with grinding elements therein mounted on said shaft, means for continuously drawing air at high velocity into one endof said hollow shaft, across the upper portion of said drum, and out the other end of said shaft, means for selectively admitting air through the material and around the grinding elements and out. said other end of the hollow shaft, and means connected with said other end of the hollow shaft receiving air and dust particles emitted from said shaft and subjecting the emitted air and suspended particles to a cooling medium for stabilizing said particles with an adhering film of air.

6. An apparatus for producing chloracetophenone and diphenylamine in stabilized powdered form comprising a hollow shaft, a rotatable drum with grinding elements therein mounted on said shaft, means for continuously drawing air at high velocity into one end of said hollow shaft across the upper portion of said drum, and out the other end of said shaft, means i for selectively admitting air through the mate-' rial and around the grinding elements and out said'other end of the hollow shaft, and a stabilization tube connected with said other end of said shaft and through which the extracted air and suspended particles pass, said tube being surrounded by a jacket through which a cooling medium circulates.

7. An apparatus for disintegrating and stabilizing normally solid material comprising a rotary impact mill provided at one end with an axially positioned single manipulative means for controlling the admission of the material and air, selectively, into the mill, means for continuously drawing air at high velocity into the mill through said single manipulative means, across the mill through an area substantially removed from the grinding area thereof, and out through the other end of the mill, means for selectively admitting air through the material and around the impact elements in the mill and out said other end of the-mill, a cooling chamber connected with said other end of the mill and through which the air and suspended particles of the material exhausting from the mill pass for stabilizing said particles with an adhering film of air, and a collector for the stabilized particlesv connected with said cooling chamber.

a. The method of disintegrating and stabilizing a normally solid irritant chemical agent which normally cakes during storage, which com prises disintegratingthe agent to fine dust particles, continuously extracting only the finest dust particles, suspending and transporting the extracted dust particles in a moving stream of- 

